1970s

Pink Floyd's The Wall is Animated

Illustrator and cartoonist Gerald Scarfe contributes the double album artwork and 15 minutes of surreal animation to the feature film ‘The Wall’ by Pink Floyd. The dystopian vision and unique style of Scarfe created the visual identity of the film and album and all future stage performances.

1979

The Red Turtle's Director Graduates

The London based Dutch animator Michael Dudok de Wit graduates from the West Surrey College of Art and Design and goes on to make ‘The Monk and the Fish’ (Oscar nomination) and ‘Father & Daughter’ (Oscar win). Later, Dudok de Wit becomes the first non-Japanese director for the Studio Ghibli/Wild Bunch feature film ‘The Red Turtle’ (Oscar nomination) 2016.

1978

Watership Down is Marked as International Success

The feature film ‘Watership Down’ directed by Martin Rosen is a huge international box office success. The cel animation film based on Richard Adams’ book is helped by Art Garfunkel singing Mike Batt’s hit song ‘Bright Eyes’.

1978

Morph is Born

Aardman established in Bristol and began making ‘Morph’ for the children’s television art programme ‘Take Hart’. Morph is alive and well and still in production today.

1976

Paddington Bear is Animated

Sheila Graber creates the animation for the BBC children’s series ‘Paddington Bear’ with Ivor Wood at Filmfair

1975

Cosgrove Hall finds its home in Manchester

Cosgrove Hall Films is established in Manchester and went on to produce some of Britain’s most successful and widely regarded children’s animation such as: ‘Noddy’, ‘Chorlton and the Wheelies’, ‘Bill and Ben’ and ‘Danger Mouse’. The prolific output and success of Cosgrove Hall Films cannot be underestimated.

1975

Bob Godfrey wins an Oscar

Bob Godfrey wins an Oscar for his film ‘Great’. Bob goes on to make the hugely successful children’s series ‘Roobarb’, ‘Noah and Nelly’ and ‘Henry’s Cat’. Bob’s career lasted over 50 years and his short films for adult audiences were notable for their satirical humour.

1975

Bagpuss is Born

The lovable saggy old cloth cat ‘Bagpuss’ is first shown on BBC. This short series of 13 episodes made by Smallfilms was much loved by a generation of British children.

1974

Award winning New York Animator moves to London

Erica Russell moves to London from New Zealand and works with Richard Williams before making her great films ‘Feet of Song’ (1988) and ‘Triangle’ (1992) which gained her an Oscar nomination.

1972

Aardman Animations is Formed

Aardman Animations is formed by Peter Lord and David Sproxton. Over the next 40 plus years Aardman becomes one of the most successful animation companies in the world.

1972

Special BFI Award for Animation

Political cartoonist Abu Abraham receives a special BFI award for his film ‘No Arks’.

1970

An Animated Education

Animation began to be taught at colleges and the National Film School, prepping many of the generation that saw success in the following two decades.

Anim18 is led by Film Hub Wales and Chapter (Cardiff) working with the BFI Film Audience Network and project partners, supported by the BFI awarding funds from the National Lottery, by Arts Council England and by the organisations above